College football 2018: Biggest Achilles’ heel for every Top 25 team

10. Penn State

Achilles’ heel: Offensive line

The Penn State Nittany Lions will be playing the 2018 college football season without Saquon Barkley. If you want to consider that an Achilles Heel, you’re by all means not wrong about that. Anytime that you lose a playmaker on offense that has the talent that the now-New York Giants running back possesses, the effects are going to be felt. And replacing him is going to be next to impossible.

Still, the Nittany Lions do still have some talent coming in as the next-men-up after Barkley with Miles Sanders and Mark Allen. They won’t be as dynamic surely, but they can still move the ball on the ground well. And though quarterback Trace McSorley can be an exceedingly frustrating player on a play-to-play basis, he has proven to be a gamer, leader and playmaker at times that could take a step forward if he’s asked to.

However, what could hold McSorley, the running backs and the Penn State team as a whole back from realizing any kind of real success is their offensive line. You could legitimately call this group a major part of the Saquon Barkley highlight-reel, but not for good reason. Almost anything that the superstar made happen with the ball in his hands, he did it on his own, because this line was awful last season.

While some new blood and experience could potentially help the Nittany Lions offensive line improve, they have a long way to go from last season. And without Barkley to mask some of those shortcomings, there is potential for things to get ugly for this offense.